Around 80% of my clinical time is spent with patients with skin cancer. I usually carry out over 400 skin cancer operations per year. I use my skin surgery skills to remove unwanted benign (non-cancerous) skin lesions outside the NHS, but I do not offer other forms of cosmetic surgery. My time in private practice is limited.

In Jan 2022 I began a clinical sabbatical from the NHS, undertaking research and academic projects and left the RSCH in July 2023 to continue this work. My clinical research focuses on the evidence base for the best outcomes for patients with skin cancer. My non-clinical academic work looks at unprofessional behaviours by surgeons and how to both improve patient safety and staff well-being by improving the culture in healthcare teams.

My national teaching, examining and governance roles continue, and I have some availability to look after private patients. If a private patient wishes and/or needs to be seen sooner than I am able to offer an appointment, I am always happy to recommend good colleagues with whom I work closely.

Education, Awards and Prizes

I studied at Bristol University and Queens University in Belfast (QUB), gaining degrees in both Dentistry and Medicine. I was awarded several undergraduate Honours and Prizes. These included the Bristol University Oral Medicine Prize and at Medical School, Distinctions in Pathology, Medicine and Surgery. I was awarded the QUB Medical School Finals Medals in Medicine (The Sir William Thompson Medal), in Surgery (The Sinclair Medal) and in Psychiatry (the Victoria Coleman Medal).

My Higher Surgical Training was initially in Northern Ireland at the Regional Plastic and Maxillofacial unit. I then continued my training at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, rotating to Brighton and Guildford.

In 2012, I was awarded the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) Surgery Prize. This prize and medal, awarded annually, is awarded to a person or persons who are judged to have made a major contribution to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the widest sense, and is a high honour.

I have received NHS Clinical Excellence awards at local level in 2006, 2008, 2010 and nationally at Bronze level in 2012. National awards are awarded in recognition of sustained and dedicated contribution to the NHS, commitment to patient well-being and outstanding professional leadership. In 2021 I was awarded a Silver NHS Clinical Excellence award; this is achieved by usually fewer than 20 NHS surgeons across all specialities in England each year.

In 2020 I was nominated by the Regional OMFS Trainees in Kent Surrey and Sussex as The Trainer of the Year and went on to be awarded the BAOMS Trainer's Trainer of the Year- a national prize voted for by the UK OMFS Surgical Training Programme Directors.

Work on the disparities in the UK management of Dermal Sarcoma (a rare skin cancer) was presented at the BAOMS conference in 2021 and was awarded the President's Prize.

In 2021 I completed my training as a Medical Examiner.

In 2023 I was awarded the Colyer Gold Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons along side my friend and colleague Miss Daljit Dhariwal, from the University of Oxford. This is awarded at irregular intervals for "contributions to the profession or wider society". Read the BBC story here.

The BAOMS recognised my work for the speciality with the 2023 Down Surgical Prize, received in July 2024.

RSCH Roles

I was admitted to the Specialist Register of the GMC in 2003 and was appointed as an NHS Consultant at RSCH in Guildford the same year. I chaired the Consent Group at RSCH 2005-2006 and  held the post of Clinical Director at The Royal Surrey County Hospital from 2006-2010.

In 2013, I set up the RSCH Head and Neck Sentinel Node Biopsy service for patients with malignant melanoma. Read more

I am a long-standing Core Member of the Regional Specialist Skin Cancer MDT (SSMDT), held the role of SSMDT Co-Chair 2018-2021 and was the Regional Skin Cancer Network Chair 2021-2023.

National Roles

I have held and hold several national posts including:

• Editorial Advisor to British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 2006-2014, Head and Neck 2019- current, BMJ Case reports 2018-current    

• Examiner JCIE (Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations) OMFS Board of Examiners for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS),  writing questions, examining, and standard setting for the specialty 2008-current. This is the exam which senior surgical trainees must pass to become a consultant.

• Lead for Skin Cancer Surgery for the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 2010 to 2016

• Chair of the JCIE MCQ writing group for OMFS, 2013-2015

• Chair of Section I of the JCIE FRCS examination for all the 10 surgical specialties in the UK and Ireland 2015-2019

• JCIE Assessor of FRCS examinations. 2018-current

• Chair of the OMFS Examination Board for the UK and Ireland 2019-current

• Expert advisor to the NHS Choices website, with pages on: Mouth cancer and Wisdom teeth. 2014-current

• Lead Chapter author, Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer (NMSC) in the UK Consensus Guidelines in Head and Neck Cancer, published in 2011 and updated in 2016, and contributed to the 2021/22 update

• Member National Cancer Research Institute, Skin Cancer NMSC sub group 2017 until the 2023 closure due to central funding withdrawal

• Specialist Advisory Committee in OMFS member (this committe is advisory to the Surgical Royal Colleges on higher training in OMFS) 2019-2023

• British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) BCC and cSCC Guidelines Co-Author: as a member of the keratinocyte cancer group of the BAD, updating the evidence based, NICE accredited and internationally recognised guidelines on basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers (BCC and cSCC). These were published  in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2021. I am a current member of the BAD Merkel Cell Carcinoma Guidelines Update Group

• Member of the Royal College of Surgeons Invited Review Mechanism, which provides investigations and advice to health care organisations on surgical standards governance and performance 2020- current

• BAOMS Elected Council Member, 2021-2024

• Co-Lead of the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery 2022-current. This work can be seen at www.wpsms.org.uk. This project is run by members of the Women in Surgery Group at The Royal College of Surgeons of England. Our research has contributed to significant changes by stakeholders, including the introduction of the NHSE Sexual Safety Charter, and changes to the GMC's Good Medical Practice.
   

• In 2012, I discussed with Roger Moore why he can raise one eyebrow on The One Show. [watch the YouTube video]

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Research Papers and Publications

I have published extensively in the scientific literature.
See the full list of my publications

I am co-author of the Oxford University Press Specialist Handbook in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, initially published in 2009, with second and third editions published in 2014 and 2020.

In 2014, I was an invited expert reviewer of the SIGN Guidelines on Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Recent Lectures

I am an invited speaker on skin cancer and on sexaul misconduct in surgery at a number of national and international conferences and events.

Recent lectures include:

• Royal Marsden Head and Neck Conference Nov 2013: Evidence based management of Merkel Cell Carcinoma

• British Dental Association Southern Counties Presidential meeting, March 2014: Facial skin lesions and the dental clinician's role

• British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Conference Edinburgh, July 2014: Keynote lecture - An update on cutaneous malignant melanoma

• British Association of Dermatology Conference Glasgow, July 2014: High risk Squamous Cell Carcinoma

• European Association of Craniomaxillofacial Surgeons, September 2014 Prague: Reconstruction of the eyelids after skin cancer surgery

• Royal Marsden Head and Neck Conference, November 2014, London: Marginal Control in Basal Cell Carcinoma

• Scottish Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Conference, November 2014, Crosshouse: Cutaneous malignant melanoma

• Welsh Skin Cancer Study Day, December 2014 Cardiff: The management of the regional nodes in skin cancer of the head and neck

• Face Course, July 2015, University of Southampton: International course on facial reconstruction for skin cancer

• I was co-organiser, with my colleague Cyrus Kerawala, of the Royal Marsden Head and Neck Cancer Conference on Skin Cancers of the Head and Neck in November 2015

• I was the invited organiser for the Dermatological Surgery symposium at the 2016 London Congress of the European Association for Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery

• In 2019, at the national speciality association conference, I chaired the BAOMS Symposium on Controversies in Skin Cancer Management

• During the 2020 Covid pandemic, I have delivered a series of on-line webinars to UK trainee surgeons, on the management of skin cancer

• The Royal Society of Medicine, London. An Update on...the management of skin cancer in the Covid era. Nov 2020

• ESTRO 2020/21 World Congress of Brachytherapy. The role of surgery in the management of lip cancers April 2021

• Facial melanoma surgery- how I do it. Invited speaker at the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery National Scientific Conference, October 2021

• Pleomorphic Dermal Sarcoma. BAOMS National Conference June 2022

• #timesup for Sexual Misconduct in OMFS. BAOMS National Conference June 2022

• Citation for Mr Cyrus Kerawala. BAOMS National Conference June 2022

• Sexual Misconduct in Surgery. Institute of Medical Ethics Birmingham July 2022

• Sexual Misconduct in Surgery. WIMIN Conference Sept 2022

• What's New and what's coming in skin cancer? Guildford, Nov 2022

• Sexual Misconduct in Surgery, WinS at the RCS Future Surgery Conference Nov 2022

• Chair, Skin Cancer Symposium on High risk cSCC. BAOMS National Conference 2023

• ​Keeping Abreast of Developments. BAOMS National Conference 2023

• Chair, Skin Cancer Symposium "The Patient's Voice" BAOMS National Conference 2024

• Lectures on Sexual Misconduct in Healthcare to national conferences of NHS Providers, The Society of British Neurosurgeons, The British Association of Urologists, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. (see image above) 2024

I am registered with the General Medical Council as Linda Caroline Newlands.